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UPDATE: Warrants issued for 2 Atlanta area residents in River Street brawl

UPDATE from Savannah-Chatham police: The above videosurveillance footage shows Robert William Gray dressed in a dark-colored short-sleeved shirt, tan shorts, and white sneakers, with a white bag in his right hand and a cup in his left hand. Richard Wayne Barnes is shown in a white hat, red shirt, blue jeans and white shoes.

Savannah-Chatham police detectives have issued misdemeanor warrants for the arrests of two Atlanta-area residents involved in a Mother’s Day weekend fight on River Street.

Warrants were issued for Robert William Gray, 40, of Cumming, and Richard Wayne Barnes of Lawrenceville. Both men are charged with affray (fighting) due to their roles in the altercation, said police spokeswoman Eunicia Baker.

Police have not revealed what role Barnes played in the brawl.

Gray’s brother-in-law, Jim Thomas, originally brought the May 10 incident to light in a Facebook post claiming that he and Gray, along with their wives and children, were confronted by a hostile man near the Hyatt after the man walked through their group while they stood on the sidewalk.

Thomas then claimed he was rushed from behind into a parked car, which led to his face hitting the ground. As Gray came to his aid, the post states he was also grabbed and thrown to the ground and suffered a blow to the eye. Thomas suffered a facial laceration and Gray was left with an eye wound. The post also stated that Thomas’ wife was grabbed by her hair and their 6-year-old daughter was punched in the stomach and that the family didn’t get a response from police for about 25 minutes.

Police released a video of the brawl a few days later, which showed the two groups, both including children walking on River Street about 9:45 p.m. When one group encountered eight members of the Forsyth County family standing on the sidewalk, one male avoided contact by walking onto River Street while a male and female worked their way through the family, said Savannah-Chatham police spokesman Julian Miller.

Just after that male walked through the cluster of family members, he was confronted by one or two males in the family, and a verbal altercation ensued, Miller said.

The male who had walked around the family pulled the other male away and they left. But one of the males in the Atlanta-area family continued to talk to him, Miller said. He broke free from the male who was leading him away and ran back into the crowd where a fight ensued, with members of both groups trying to break it up.

The video shows a female with the second group trying to separate the parties and pulling a female family member away by her hair, but showed no evidence of Thomas’ 6-year-old daughter being punched in the stomach.

Miller says police were on the scene of the fight within 10 minutes of the first call, but the second group had already left the area. The video showed members of both groups carrying beverages and officers on the scene reported a heavy odor of alcohol.

Savannah Waterfront Association Board of Directors president Bill Dickinson said he had previously spoken to eyewitnesses whose stories backed up the footage shown on the surveillance video.

“According to the witnesses I’ve spoken with the two men in the family were saying things you couldn’t publish,” Dickinson said. “They were not being attacked, they were antagonizing and making comments.”

Dickinson, who also owns Wet Willie’s, said the establishment had reviewed its security cameras, but didn’t find any footage of the altercation.

“You can never have enough police to stop people from being stupid regardless of how long it took (police) to get there,” he said. “I’m just glad they’re doing something about it.”

In a news release sent out Monday afternoon, Interim Police Chief Julie Tolbert credits metro detectives for their hard work of combing through the facts of the investigation.

“The matter is now in the hands of our justice system, which will undoubtedly apply due diligence to reaching an appropriate judgment,” Tolbert said.